Reel



C. E. BIEBER Feb. 27, 1962 REEL Filed Dec. 23, 1959 INVENTOR. CHARLES E.B/EBER A T TORNE V United States Patent 3,022,958 REEL Charles E.Bieher, Roselle, N.J., assignor to Monroe Calculating Machine Company,Orange, N.J., a corporation of Delaware Filed Dec. 23, 1959, Ser. No.861,509 9 Claims. (Cl. 242-713) This invention pertains to reels orspools for web material such as inked ribbons.

It is an object of the invention to provide a reel having novel meansfor securely holding a roll of web material thereon.

It is a further object to provide a reel having gripping means forsecurely holding a roll of web material.

It is a further object to provide a reel having gripping means forsecurely holding a roll of web material, said reel including novel meanswhereby the gripping means can be readily and easily operated to grip orrelease the roll.

In the illustrative embodiment of the invention dis- EWZZfifiS PatentedFeb. 27, 1932 at a narrow integral flange 7 of the stud, which abuts oneface of the support member 5. A nut 10 threaded on stud 6 engages theopposite face of the support memher and holds the stud rigidly in place.

The side plate 3 is rigidly secured, as by being spun thereon, to asleeve-like hub member 11. Journalled for rotation in a-centrallongitudinal bore 12 of stud 6 is an elongated shaft 13. The hub member11 is mounted on shaft 13 and is rigidly coupled thereto by a pin 14which is fast with the shaft and which extends through closely fittingcircular openings in the hub member.

Accordingly, it will be seen that shaft 13, hub 11, and plate 3 arerigidly coupled together as a unit for rotation about the axisdefined'by the bore 12 of stud 6. Shaft 13' is adapted to be rotatablydriven by any suitable means. For example, a cup-shaped pulley ,15

'. may be'rigidly secured to the shaft by a set screw '16 closed herein,the reel comprises a pair of spaced side plates detachably coupledtogether. means maintains the side plates in coupled relation. Mountedon the outside face of one of the side plates is a pair of levers,disposed on opposite sides of a diametral line of the plate; Each of thelevers carries an inwardly extending pin adapted to grip the inside ofthe roll of web material carried by the reel. Spring means acting on thelevers resiliently urge the pins into gripping engagement with the roll.The s'pring'means are also utilized to urge the aforementioned latchingmeans to operated position. Each lever also includes a suitable fingerpiece which maybe grasped to rock the gripping pins away from engagementwith the roll to release the latter. V t

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be readily apparentfrom the following detailed description when read in connection with theaccompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of the reel of the present invention.

Asuitable latching FIG. 2 is a sectionalview taken on line of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken on line 33 of FIG. 2. Referring now tothe drawing, reference numeral l designates the roll of web materialcarried by the reel. The type of web material for which the reel of thepres- .ent invention is primarily intended is an inked ribbon havingv abase layer of paper, Mylarf or like material. It will be understood,however, that the reel can be used for any desired type of web material,e.g.,punche d;tape, magnetic tape, motion picture film, etc. The roll 1:in-

upon which the web materialis wound.

The reel or spool of the present invention includes a pair ofsubstantially identical spacedside plates 3 and 4. The plates aredisc-like in form and include the usual circular cutouts 3a, 4a. mountedon a suitable fixed support means 5. The other plate, 4, which carriesthe roll of web material, is normally coupled to the fixed plate forrotation therewith. Means is provided whereby the outer plate 4 mayeasily be removed for mounting thereon a roll of the web material or forremoving therefrom the empty core of armed roll, as will be describedsubsequently.

Plate 3 is mounted as follows. As best seen in FIG.

2 a stud 6 threaded along a portion of its length is screwed through acorrespondingly threaded opening in the supporting member 5. Supportingmember 5 may be a framing plate of any suitable business machine such asa typewriter, adding-listing machine, or the. like. The

'inner end of the threaded portion of the stud terminates Gne of theplates, 3, is rotatably with pin 14.

and may be driven by a belt 17 actuated by any suitable power source.Undesirable lengthwise movement of the shaft in either direction isprevented by abutment of the inner face of the base of the cup-shapedpulley with one end of stud 6, and abutment of the. side plate 3 withthe opposite end'of'thejstud. v

Customarily, the-reel is driven only if it is used as a take-up reel.When it is used as a supply reel, there will usually be no need toprovide a special drive means for the reel, since insuch cases pullingthe ribbon from the reel to feed the ribbon will rotate the reel.

: Rigidly secured to the removable side plate dis a coaxial inwa'rdlyextending collar 20 whose inner diameter is such that it may be slidover the hub 11 .of plate 3.

The collar 20 is provided with two pairs of diametrically opposedslots-21 which extend inwardly from the free end thereof and are'adaptedto receive the outer end portions of pin 14 which extend radially beyondthe hub 11. This pin and slot arrangement couples the side plates 3 and4 together for conjoint rotation. One pair of opposed slots 21 would ofcourse be sufficient but several angularly spaced pairs are provided tofacilitate mounting of the side plate by reducing the amount of turningwhich the operator will have to do to line the slots up The removableside plate-4 is releasably held in as i'sembled relation with plate 3 bymeans of a latch 22.

Latch 22 comprises a flat strip of material lying against the outsideface of plate 3'. A pair of headed pins 23 secured'to plate 3 along adiametral'line thereof are slidably received in aligned elongated slots24 of the latch Jwhereby'the latter-is allowed limited longitudinalmovement. -Adjacent its center, latch 22 is provided with a circularopening 25. As best seen in FIG. 2,--the leftcludes the usual annularcore 2 oflcardboard or the like hand end portion of Shaft 13 is provldedWlth a narrow groove 26. The axial width of this groove is slightlygreater than the thickness of latch 22. When the reel is in assembledcondition, the free (right) endof collar 26 abuts the'inside face ofplate 3 and thereby determines .urge-the latter toward the right in FIG.1 whereby a portion of the edge of opening 25 enters the groove andengages the base thereof. Accordingly, plate 4 will be held latchedagainst axial movement awayfrorn plate"3 j by the sidewall of thegroove.

To release the latch for removal of pltae 4-, a laterally :bent lug 32provided at the opposite end of the latch from tongues 30, 31 is graspedand moved radially inwardly toward the center of plate 4' against thetension **of springs 21 and 28. This will move the edge of open- 3 ing25 out of groove 26 whereupon plate 4 is free to be slid axially awayfrom plate 3 for disassembly.

The means whereby the roll of web material is releasably held on plate 4will now be described. Rigidly secured to plate 4 is a number, in thepresent case four, of identical inwardly extending pins 33. Hereinafter,these pins are referred to as fixed pins meaning that they are fixedrelative to plate 4. The centers of the pins lie along a circle whosecenter coincides with the center of plate 4 and collar 20. The radius ofthe circle along which the pins lie, and the diameter of the pinsthemselves is such that the roll 1 may easily be slid over the pins, thecore '2 of the roll being loosely supported on the pins. It will beunderstood that the roll will be introduced first over the free ends ofthe pins and will then be shifted axially by the operator until one sideface of the roll engages the inside face of plate 4. e

. The roll is held securely but releasably on plate 4 by a pair ofdiametrically opposed movable pins 34, 35 substantially identical withthe fixed pins .33. Eachof the movable pins 34, 35 is rigidly secured tothe longer arm of one of two respective bell cranks 36, .37. The two thetwo respective movable pins 34-, 35 on core 2 will never be preciselyequal, the inside face of the core will bear against a pair of the pins33, whereby the latter aid in gripping the core and holding it securelyrelative to plate 4. However, it will be understood that in particularapplications, less than four fixed pins may be used and in fact thefixed pins might be dispensed with altogether. This will of coursedepend on among other things, the rigidity of the core and the need forprecisely centering the roll.

Also, only one movable pin could be used in conjunction with one or morefixed pins.

While this specification sets forth in detail the present and preferredconstruction of the invention, many modifications and variations may bemade without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention asdefined by the appended claims. his accordingly intended that thedisclosure of one specific embodiment of the invention be illustrativeonly and not limitativc of the claims.

bell cranks are respectively pivotally mounted on side plate 4 by meansof pivot pins 40 and 41. The pins 34, 35 extend axially inwardly in thesame direction as pins 33 through apertures 42, 43 of plate 4, the outeredge portions of the apertures serving to limit the outward movement ofthe pins.

Referring to FIG. 1, it will be seen that the longitudinal of latch 22lies on a diametral line of plate 4 and the bell cranks are disposed onoppositesides of the latch symmetrically with respect to the samediametral line. Earlier it was mentioned that the latch 22 is urged tolatching position by the two springs 27, "28,. These same springs arealso utilized to rock the bellcranks abont their respective pivot axeswherebylthe pins .34, 35 cars ried thereby areurged outwardly togripcore 2 tosecure- .ly hold "the roll -1 on plate ,4. "For thispurpose opting '27 is connected to an upstanding lug 44 of bell crank'36 and spring28 issirnilarly connectedto .an upstanding log 45 of bellcrank 37. The better to gripthe inside :face of core 2,.all the pins 33,34 and 35 are provided with knurling as shown in FIG. 2. 'I-ofacilitatemanipulation of the bell cranks, the free-ends of their longer arms arebent laterally to provide finger pieces 46, 47.

It is believed that the manner of using-themed of the present inventionwill now'be apparent from the foregoing description. Under .theinfluence ofsprings 27, 28, the movablepins 34-, 35 will'be urgedoutwardly to firmlyengage the inside face of core 2 of roll ,1 and :holdit-securely against rotation relative to plate l4. When it .is desiredto remove thecore .2 of a depleted roll, latch 22 is disengaged fromgroove 26 on. shaft=l3 to allow plate 4 to be dismounted. To release thecore, the operator grasps finger pieces 46, 47 andurges them toward eachother, rocking bell crank counterclockwise and .bell crank 37 clockwiseas viewedin FIG. 1 to disengagepins 34, 35 from the core,- With the.operator holding the bell cranks in these respective positions, the coreof the used roll may-be moved and a newroll including a core may besubstituted. Thereafter, upon-the operator releasing the bell cranks,springs 27 and 28 will once again move the pins into gripping engaementwiththe core of the new'roll. Plate 4 containing the new .roll isthen:r.eassembled with plate 3 by placing collar 20 on hub 11,

aligning an opposed pair of the slots 21 with pin 14, and

then shifting the collar toward plate :3 untilit engages I claim:

"1. In a reel for holding a roll of web material, said reel includingspaced side plates between which said roll is disposed; means forgripping said roll. to securely hold it on said reel, said grippingmeans including a gripping member mounted on said reel for movementtoward the inner surface of said roll for gripping engagement therewithand away from said roll to release the roll, means for urging saidgripping member into gripping engagement with said roll, releasing meansfor moving said gripping member away from the roll to release the roll,supporting means defining an axis of rotation for said reel andsupporting said reel for rotation about said axis, means releasablycoupling one of said side plates to the other side plate to allow saidone side plate to be removed from said other side plate in a directionaway from said supporting means, said gripping member and saidreleasing' means being carried by said one removable side plate.

, 2; In a reel for holding a roll of web material, said reel includingspaced side plates between which said roll is disposed; means forgripping said roll to securely hold it onsaid reel, said gripping meansincluding a gripping member mounted on said reel for movement toward theinner surface of said roll for gripping engagement therewith and awayfrom said roll to release the roll, means or urging said gripping memberinto gripping engagement with said roll, releasing means for moving saidgripping member away from the roll to release the roll, and a levermounted on said reel, said gripping member including an elongated pincarried by said lever, said pin extending substantially parallel to thelongitudinal axis of said reel. 2

3. The combination according to claim 2, wherein said lever is mountedfor rotation about an axis parallel to the longitudinal axis of saidreel.

4. The combination according to claim 2, wherein said lever is mountedon the outside face of one of the side plates of said reel.

5. The-combination according to claim 2, wherein said lever is mountedon the outside face of one of the side plates of said reel for rotationabout an axis parallel to the longitudinal axis of said reel.

6. In a reel for holding a roll of web material, said reel includingspaced'side plates between which said roll is disposed; means forgripping said roll to securely hold it on said reel, said gripping meansincluding at least two gripping members mounted on said reel for outwardmovement away from the center of said reel toward the inner surface ofsaid roll for gripping engagement therewith and for return movementtoward the center of said reel to release the roll, means for urgingsaid members into gripping engagement withsaid roll, releasing means formoving said gripping members away from the roll to release the latter,said releasing means comprising a pair of spaced opposed manuallyengageable members movable toward each other, and means efiective tomove said gripping members away from said roll in response to movementof said manually engageable members toward each other.

7. The combination according to claim 6, wherein said means effective tomove said gripping members away from said roll comprises a pair oflevers, each of said levers having mounted thereon one of said grippingmembers and one of said manually engageable member 8. In a reel forholding a roll of web material, said reel including spaced side platesbetween which said roll is disposed; means detachably coupling said sideplates together, latching means for maintaining said side plates coupledtogether, gripping means movable in a given direction to securely holdsaid roll on said reel, and a single spring connected between saidlatching means and said gripping means, said spring being efiective tooperate said latching and gripping means.

9. The combination according to claim 8 wherein said latching meansincludes a latching member movably mounted on one of said side platesand said gripping means is mounted on the same said one side plate.

Doney et a1 Nov. 17, 1931 Herr Sept. 11, 1956

